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Edina Reads
is a One-Book, community-wide reading program
that encourages
active reading,
lifelong learning,
and thoughtful conversation. |
The Kite Runner
By Khaled Hosseini
The Kite Runner is a story
about two boys in Kabul, Afghanistan who grow up in the same
home, but belong to different social classes. Amir is the
son of a wealthy, powerful man, Baba, while his friend
Hassan is the son of his father's servant. Hassan is a
Hazara, an ethnic minority with no social power. Hassan
worships Amir and would do anything for him. Amir carries
the guilt of betraying their friendship when Hassan is
beaten and raped by the town bully after retrieving a kite
that Amir has downed in a kite-flying tournament.
Amir did nothing to stop it. After
the Soviets invade Afghanistan, Amir and Baba move to
California, while Hassan and his father are left to suffer
under the Taliban.
In America, Amir and Baba experience life as immigrants and
adjust in their own different ways, continuing their
complicated and strained relationship. After Amir is grown,
events lead him to return to Afghanistan to discover the
fate that has befallen Hassan and the opportunity to redeem
himself. The novel is the first book by the author, himself
an immigrant from Afghanistan. It is an engaging story of
life in Afghanistan before and after the Taliban, the
immigrant experience, issues of economic and social class,
intergenerational conflict and communication and the values
of character, courage and redemption.
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